Microsoft Makes an ARM Development Kit

Kazekage1981

Kazekage1981

Member
It's called Project Volterra. You can even stack em!!

PC World Article

MacWorld Article

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Microsoft Build 2022 Link

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Key points:
-Full blown ARM support-Newest Visual Studio building NATIVE ARM apps
-Developers can convert native x86 to native ARM (similar to rosetta)
-Qualcomm are developing a M1 killer
-NPU's along with Azure are now part of development

Edit: It is a DEVELOPMENT KIT. Not an actual ARM PC for consumers. That will come later.
 
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Important to point out: Qualcomm's "M1 killer" won't be ready before this is out - you should treat Volterra as a dev kit, not a mass market ready Mac Mini competitor.
 
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...so it's not an M1 at all, nor a Mac. WTF kind of bait and switch title is that?
 
Let see first some examples of Rossetta-like interpreter on Windows. Because that one on Mac is simply incredible.
 
This is evil...

In the future, an app you use will make a decision between whether to use the power of your local CPU; a local "neural processing unit," or NPU; or the cloud to get your task done fast.
Click to expand...

We're entering a world where every Windows computer will draw on the combined power of CPUs, GPUs, NPUs, and even a new coprocessor, Azure Compute, in this hybrid cloud-to-edge world
Click to expand...

If you don't know, these cloud services cost money - in essence what microsoft is envisioning is a future where every pc needs a cloud subscription attached to function.

No thanks no.
 
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ManaByte said:
Are we going to start to see a transition away from x86?
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once Windows has a fast and highly compatible translation layer ARM will slowly become the new standard most likely.

currently it's not really viable as a mass market solution because while Windows for ARM has a way to run x86 code, it is still riddled with issues and it's super slow still
 
building NATIVE ARM apps like photoshop, etc is a good start. I wonder if they will make NATIVE arm games? For that I think, Intel, AMD and NVIDIA will need to make ARM based cpu-gpu-npu type of apu. Qualcomm will have a head start, and Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA will need to play catch up.
 
ManaByte said:
Are we going to start to see a transition away from x86?
Click to expand...
It's real old architecture in very basic sense, that certain stuff can't be changed from stuff 30 years ago. With ARM you could build more purposeful ASIC of what you need and what you are doing and not really drag a lot of dead weight.
 
M1chl said:
It's real old architecture in very basic sense, that certain stuff can't be changed from stuff 30 years ago. With ARM you could build more purposeful ASIC of what you need and what you are doing and not really drag a lot of dead weight.
Click to expand...

1) How does ARM compare to RISC-V?
2) How does x86 compare to RISC-V?
3) Does anybody use PowerPC anymore?
 
Kazekage1981 said:
1) How does ARM compare to RISC-V?
2) How does x86 compare to RISC-V?
3) Does anybody use PowerPC anymore?
Click to expand...
RISC-V is open source and pretty new, those aren't so far many application oriented chips, that could work like a CPU. It needs some time to oven and it's debatable, if it's going to be used in this way as a main chip when you have ARM architectures. Let's say that it could be as a SoC where application oriented circuits, could be done in RISC-V as a auxiliary helpers, for example for something like encryption, etc. But it could change obviously in the future.

Power PC as far as I know, are used even in latest IBM mainframe PCs, which has very specially oriented workloads.
 
ARM (RISC) processors are not inherently more efficient than x86 (CISC). ARM processors use less instructions and are generally less powerful than x86. The x86 architecture is much better at multi-threading making them the superiors choice for complex software such as games. An x86 chip is designed to be power hungry and high clocked with high number of instructions per cycle. RISC processors can do a much smaller number of calculations since they require several commands to act, the advantage being less power draw and low production cost.

At the low end, many x86 cpus perform much better than ARM at comparable TDP. For example, quad-core Celeron systems running Win10 run smooth on 5W while their ARM counterparts struggle with 4K video playback and basic gaming. Point being that none is inherently better than the other, they both have their specific uses.

The M1 processor is not a pure ARM CPU, it is a whole system of multiple chips put into one large silicon package. Hence why you can't compare ARM to an Apple chip.
 
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Windows 11 arm runs pretty good in parallels on my m1 pro mac. I hope Microsoft releases a native arm version for M1 so i don't have to use parallels.
 
Sophist said:
X86 is still strong and unmatched.
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Yah, I don't think it's going anywhere. Microsoft is not 'ditching' it. They are just being more serious about ARM. Most tablet, foldable tablet, dual screen laptops\tablet hybrid with OLED and minLED screens for mobility and portability are going to need beefy ARM CPU/GPU/NPU type APU with 5G and Wifi6E. The current ones out there just suck or run ok at best.
 
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